Cupola Repair

By Robert Robillard on Home Repairs And Remodeling

Rebuilding A Cupola

I rebuilt this cupola a while back and just came across the photo.  Access is always an issue and I had to stage the roof with roofing brackets on both sides and at different levels in order to get to the whole structure and perform the cupola repair.
A cupola can be decorative or functional architectural structures mounted on top of homes and barns and usually centered along the roof ridge line. When functional a cupola is used to ventilate a building or roof area and they are often made from wood, copper or composite materials. They often come in one piece or if larger two or three pieces.

Cupola Repair

We custom milled 1x cedar into tongue and groove boards to make the siding.
Cedar is much more money but has inherent insect and rot resistant qualities and is a better choice for exterior trim. This location does not see a lot of inspections or maintenance and it was a good choice.
The tongue and groove make the boards weather tight!

The cupola sills were rotted. You can’t see it but I rebuilt the sills with 2×8 stock pressure treated and completely covered the sills with lead flashing painted white.  No more rotting.

Rubber flashing was also added at the roof edge up the side walls and all of the step flashing was replaced. My feeling was to give this beauty a tune up since I probably would not be up here again until at least the next paint job or two.

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About the author

Robert Robillard

Carpenter / Remodeler / Editor

Rob Robillard is “The Concord Carpenter” Rob is a builder, general contractor, carpenter, woodworker, and editor of Concord Carpenter and ToolBoxBuzz As a General Contractor and carpenter, Rob owns and operates Concord Carpenter LLC. A full-service remodeling and construction company. Rob is a recognized leader in home building best practices and a source for how-to information for building professionals. On this website, Rob covers all aspects of home construction, building science, home improvement, woodworking, remodeling, and some of the best product and tool reviews. Rob is in charge of our Tool and Product Review series - Concord Carpenter Videos where we post all of our tool reviews and video tutorials. Rob approaches remodeling and building construction with a pragmatic and problem-solving approach. He enjoys using his knowledge and experience to help and educate building professionals as well as DIYers on best practices in the construction and remodeling industry. He's a strong advocate for "raising the bar" in the construction trades and promoting the trades to youth. #BeAMentor #Green2Great Craftsmanship, quality, and pride guide his journey on this channel The Concord Carpenter's motto: "Well done is better than well said!" : Read more about Rob

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